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Drunken Master getting new Blu Ray release

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S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Looks like what is in my opinion the greatest martial arts film ever will finally have a worthy home edition.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06WVBRJ1L/

They state it has:

Definitive transfer from 4K digital restoration
The original complete Cantonese soundtrack, rarely heard on home video
Alternate Cantonese, English and Mandarin audio options
Newly translated English subtitles
Audio commentary by Hong Kong film experts Ric Meyers and Jeff Yang
New video interview with director Yuen Woo-ping
Video interview with Jackie Chan
New video interview with film scholar Tony Rayns
New video appreciation by director Gareth Evans (The Raid film series)
Deleted scene
Original trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring new writing and archival imagery

So hopefully the Cantonese track they're talking about is same one as the French DVD (and not the Japanese DVD, which people claimed had the full original Cantonese audio but when I bought it turned out to have snippets of english mixed in).

I don't know if this is going to be region free (MoC releases generally are *unless* the rights holder dictates otherwise), but Twilight Time in america is apparently going to release DM as well as Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (so both Hwang Jang Lee/ Jackie Chan films) in June. I don't know if they're working together on the DM release or if it'll be different though.

--edit, the american version is different, and doesn't have the full cantonese audio.
 
R

Rydeen

Member
I'll be waiting for uncut, subtitled blu rays for all of Jackie's movies. The Weinsteins / Dimension really did a hatchet job to those movies, some of them like Project A are borderline unwatchable in the Dimension edit, and its still almost all we have officially in the U.S.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Rydeen said:
I'll be waiting for uncut, subtitled blu rays for all of Jackie's movies. The Weinsteins / Dimension really did a hatchet job to those movies, some of them like Project A are borderline unwatchable in the Dimension edit, and its still almost all we have officially in the U.S.
Click to expand...

We came off better in the UK with the HKL releases I think, although they had plenty of other problems.

I don't mind the Snake in the Eagles Shadow forever being cut. That cat/snake fight is horrible.
 
M

matrix-cat

Member
I always hold out for 'definitive' versions of Jackie's movies, and it's such a shame that there always seems to be something not quite there. This sounds like a good one, though; I'll definitely be interested in that Gareth Evans bit.
 
L

Leezard

Member
Is this the "first" movie?

Unless I remember wrong the first movie in Asia became the second movie in the west and vice versa.
 
S

sohois

Member
I saw the earlier movie a few months ago and it had the most hilarious English dub. It greatly improved the comedic aspect of the film
 
Spladam

Spladam

Member
You mean Drunken Master II, this and Fist of Legend are the greatest martial arts movies ever made, in my humble opinion.

Leezard said:
Is this the "first" movie?

Unless I remember wrong the first movie in Asia became the second movie in the west and vice versa.
Click to expand...

The first was never officially released in the West I believe, but I do know that Drunken Master II became just "The Legend of the Drunken Master" here, and received a theatrical release years after it was released in the East and won the famous award from the MTV movie awards. (Do they still have those?)
 
L

Leezard

Member
Spladam said:
You mean Drunken Master II, this and Fist of Legend are the greatest martial arts movies ever made, in my humble opinion.



The first was never officially released in the West I believe, but I do know that Drunken Master II became just "Drunken Master" here, and received a theatrical release years after it was released in the East and won the famous award from the MTV movie awards. (Do they still have those?)
Click to expand...

All right, thanks. So this is Drunker Master II? I think that's the better one even if I like both. Seems like a good buy.
 
Spladam

Spladam

Member
Leezard said:
All right, thanks. So this is Drunker Master II? I think that's the better one even if I like both. Seems like a good buy.
Click to expand...

The second was made decades after the first, the first one being one of Jackie's earlier films. Jackie had not been in a "traditional" martial arts movie for more than a decade when Drunken Master II was made. It was to be, from the outset, Jackie's magnum opus, his greatest life work, much like Fist of Legend was for Jet Li.

The first movie is an acquired taste, the cinematography is not that impressive, the action is pretty good, but the humor is very much Hong Kong in the 1970's. It's rather low budget compared to it's follow up a 16 years later.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Leezard said:
All right, thanks. So this is Drunker Master II? I think that's the better one even if I like both. Seems like a good buy.
Click to expand...

To be clear, this is the '78 one where Hwang Jang Lee is an assassin after the life of Jackie Chan's father, and Jackie Chan is forced to train with a drunken beggar (played by Yuen Siu-tien) as punishment for being a massive douche.

It is this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master

In the UK this was released on VHS as simply "Drunken Master" back in the day.

It is *not* this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master_II

Which never got a release here back in the day, and the current ones available are also rubbish afaik. It's ok but I far prefer the '78 film. There's a lot of martial arts films I prefer to DM2.
 
D

Disagree Guy

Member
Tizoc said:
Let me know when 1 and 2 are both released as a compilation like this :/
Click to expand...

This is my thoughts too.

I've got Drunken Master 1 on DVD but Drunken Master 2 (iirc) has never been released in Region 2 on DVD.

Either way - a blu-ray set of both would be shit hot

Drunken Master 2 is by far my favourite martial arts film. That Choreography is amazing.
 
L

Llyranor

Member
I have a region-free Blu player, so I may pick this up. Twilight Time has announced ages ago witb no updates, so whatever. I still want a good version of Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and DM2, though. Why is there still not a good version of DM2 even in Asia? WHY???!!!!
Leezard said:
Is this the "first" movie?

Unless I remember wrong the first movie in Asia became the second movie in the west and vice versa.
Click to expand...
You're thinking about Armour of God/Operation Condor.
 
Spladam

Spladam

Member
Sir_Crocodile said:
To be clear, this is the '78 one where Hwang Jang Lee is an assassin after the life of Jackie Chan's father, and Jackie Chan is forced to train with a drunken beggar (played by Yuen Siu-tien) as punishment for being a massive douche.

It is this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master

In the UK this was released on VHS as simply "Drunken Master" back in the day.

It is *not* this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master_II

Which never got a release here back in the day, and the current ones available are also rubbish afaik. It's ok but I far prefer the '78 film. There's a lot of martial arts films I prefer to DM2.
Click to expand...

It might help if I actually clicked the link and not assumed it was just Drunken Master II that was getting the blue ray. I always loved the performance of Yuen Siu-tien as the old master. Siu-tien was, as many of you might know, legendary martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping's father. He sadly died the year after making the original Drunken Master. Good to see it get a proper release.
Really hope they do a proper job with the subtitles and the dubbing.

On a side note, Wong Fei-Hung is the name of most of my main characters in most RPG's.
 
L

LiK

Member
Hell yea, I hope the sequel gets a proper Blu release as well. I bought the fan remaster but that ain't the same.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
Spladam said:
It might help if I actually clicked the link and not assumed it was just Drunken Master II that was getting the blue ray. I always loved the performance of Yuen Siu-tien as the old master. Siu-tien was, as many of you might know, legendary martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping's father. He sadly died the year after making the original Drunken Master. Good to see it get a proper release.
Really hope they do a proper job with the subtitles and the dubbing.
Click to expand...

Yuen Siu-tien's face when he manages to get out of the giant jar is one of the greatest things ever
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
A Pretty Panda said:
Whoever put out the DVD I have also has random parts of English spliced into the Cantonese track.
Click to expand...

Yes, that happens in all of them except the french DVD version.

I'm hoping this one has the audio from the same source as the french one, as they say "The original complete Cantonese soundtrack, rarely heard on home video".
 
W

WhateverItTakes

Banned
Spladam said:
The second was made decades after the first, the first one being one of Jacky's earlier films. Jacky had not been in a "traditional" martial arts movie for more than a decade when Drunken Master II was made. It was to be, from the outset, Jacky's magnum opus, his greatest life work, much like Fist of Legend was for Jet Li.

The first movie is an acquired taste, the cinematography is not that impressive, the action is pretty good, but the humor is very much Hong Kong in the 1970's. It's rather low budget compared to it's follow up a 16 years later.
Click to expand...

That might explain why I only got halfway through the first. That or I like action movies with good martial arts, as opposed to martial arts movies.
 
L

LiK

Member
Sir_Crocodile said:
Yes, that happens in all of them except the french DVD version.

I'm hoping this one has the audio from the same source as the french one, as they say "The original complete Cantonese soundtrack, rarely heard on home video".
Click to expand...

I have a VCD that is all the original language intact but of course, video quality is kinda crap these days.
 
L

Leezard

Member
Spladam said:
The second was made decades after the first, the first one being one of Jacky's earlier films. Jacky had not been in a "traditional" martial arts movie for more than a decade when Drunken Master II was made. It was to be, from the outset, Jacky's magnum opus, his greatest life work, much like Fist of Legend was for Jet Li.

The first movie is an acquired taste, the cinematography is not that impressive, the action is pretty good, but the humor is very much Hong Kong in the 1970's. It's rather low budget compared to it's follow up a 16 years later.
Click to expand...

Sir_Crocodile said:
To be clear, this is the '78 one where Hwang Jang Lee is an assassin after the life of Jackie Chan's father, and Jackie Chan is forced to train with a drunken beggar (played by Yuen Siu-tien) as punishment for being a massive douche.

It is this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master

In the UK this was released on VHS as simply "Drunken Master" back in the day.

It is *not* this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master_II

Which never got a release here back in the day, and the current ones available are also rubbish afaik. It's ok but I far prefer the '78 film. There's a lot of martial arts films I prefer to DM2.
Click to expand...

All right, thanks for the explanation.

Llyranor said:
You're thinking about Armour of God/Operation Condor.
Click to expand...

Nah, it was the Drunken Masters but I misremembered how it was completely. I haven't seen Armour of God/Operation Condor.
 
Spladam

Spladam

Member
Yuen Siu-tien's old master character in that movie was also the inspiration for Wu Tang's Old Dirty Bastard's stage persona.

The movie was the best early example of Jackie's amazing physical screen presence, the scenes with him doing cart rolls using his head were astounding, and the choreography was some of the best in the 70's.

It was choreographed by the now legendary Yuen Woo-ping, who went on to do the choreography in most of Drunken Master II, Fist of Legend, The Matrix, Lethal Weapon 4 and a shit load of other western and eastern big budget movies, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
 
L

Llyranor

Member
WhateverItTakes said:
That might explain why I only got halfway through the first. That or I like action movies with good martial arts, as opposed to martial arts movies.
Click to expand...
I'd say 70'/80's kungfu movies are pretty much a niche genre. Questionable humor and story at times, but the opera-style fight choreography with minimal cuts just completely enthralls me. We are unlikely to get anything like that ever again :(
 
L

LiK

Member
Llyranor said:
I'd say 70'/80's kungfu movies are pretty much a niche genre. Questionable humor and story at times, but the opera-style fight choreography with minimal cuts just completely enthralls me. We are unlikely to get anything like that ever again :(
Click to expand...

Are you a native Cantonese speaker? I always wondered what non-native people think of the jokes cuz a lot of them are puns that are translated awkwardly.
 
L

Llyranor

Member
LiK said:
Are you a native Cantonese speaker? I always wondered what non-native people think of the jokes cuz a lot of them are puns that are translated awkwardly.
Click to expand...
No, but I am referring mostly to some of the sometimes really dumb slapstick. Jackie is probably one of the few who can pull it off relatively well, and even then it's hit or miss with him.
 
L

LiK

Member
Llyranor said:
No, but I am referring mostly to some of the sometimes really dumb slapstick. Jackie is probably one of the few who can pull it off relatively well, and even then it's hit or miss with him.
Click to expand...

Oh yea, so many 70's and 80's HK movies had really slapsticky humor. Altho I always preferred the old school humor over anything we get now. It's so bad now.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
I like slapstick.

Young Master(Shi di chu ma) was probably my favourite for that. The fight between Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and a bench, and the stuff with Shih Kien and his pipe, and I think there was a bit where Jackie was trying to fight while keeping a floor clean as well.
 
L

LiK

Member
Sir_Crocodile said:
I like slapstick.

Young Master(Shi di chu ma) was probably my favourite for that. The fight between Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and a bench, and the stuff with Shih Kien and his pipe, and I think there was a bit where Jackie was trying to fight while keeping a floor clean as well.
Click to expand...

I love all the old Jackie films. Anything he did before 1990.
 
Spladam

Spladam

Member
LiK said:
Oh yea, so many 70's and 80's HK movies had really slapsticky humor. Altho I always preferred the old school humor over anything we get now. It's so bad now.
Click to expand...

Slapsticky humor which was often occompanied by silly foley sound effects. Spiritual Kung Fu is a good example of this, also a 1978 Jacky Chan movie, it has great action but really silly humor that does not translate well to the Western sense of humor, especially the silly facial expressions made by the characters. I was always fascinated with it though. Love those old movies.

The humor was and continued to be a trademark of Jacky's, which differentiates his movies from many other traditional martial arts films, showing him as a bit more dynamic in performance than just an action star, which worked for his career and legacy, as opposed to say Gordon Lui, who would not enjoy the same success although he made some incredible martial arts movies.
 
L

LiK

Member
Spladam said:
Slapsticky humor which was often occompanied by silly foley sound effects. Spiritual Kung Fu is a good example of this, also a 1978 Jacky Chan movie, it has great action but really silly humor that does not translate well to the Western sense of humor, especially the silly facial expressions made by the characters. I was always fascinated with it though. Love those old movies.

The humor was and continued to be a trademark of Jacky's, which differentiates his movies from many other traditional martial arts films, showing him as a bit more dynamic in performance than just an action star, which worked for his career and legacy, as opposed to say Gordon Lui, who would not enjoy the same success although he made some incredible martial arts movies.
Click to expand...

Yea, I grew up with all their movies so it's like comfort food for me. I own pretty much almost all their movies on DVD. The Hong Kong versions.
 
S

Sir_Crocodile

Member
C

carlos

Member
I seem to be among the few who prefer the original Drunken master to the much more polished, big budget sequel.
No regrets!

Young Master is great as well
 
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